 hiding in the inner Solar System. This region is notoriously challenging for observations because asteroid hunters have to contend with the light of the Sun. By taking advantage of brief yet favourable observing conditions during twilight, the astronomers found the trio of NEAs. These NEAs are part of an elusive population that lurks inside the orbits of Earth and Venus. The largest asteroid, called 2022 AP7, has an orbit that may someday place it in Earth's path. The other asteroids, called 2021 LJ4 and 2021 PH27, have orbits that safely remain completely interior to Earth's orbit. Also of special interest to astronomers and astrophysicists, 2021 PH27 is the closest known asteroid to the Sun. As such, it has the largest general-relativity effects of any object in our Solar System and during its orbit its surface gets hot enough to melt lead. Scott S. Sheppard, an astronomer at the Earth and Planets Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution for Science and the lead author of the paper describing this work, explained: 'Our twilight survey is scouring the area within the orbits of Earth and Venus for asteroids. 'So far we have found two large near-Earth asteroids that are about one kilometre across, a size that we call planet killers. 'There are likely only a few NEAs with similar sizes left to find, and these large undiscovered asteroids likely have orbits that keep them interior to the orbits of Earth and Venus most of the time. 'Only about 25 asteroids with orbits completely within Earth's orbit have been discovered to date because of the difficulty of observing near the glare of the Sun.' Finding asteroids in the inner Solar System is a daunting observational challenge. Astronomers have only two brief ten-minute windo){kind=link}
NEWS… BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
Scientists have discovered a ‘planet killer’ asteroid hiding in the glare of the Sun.
The 1.5km-wide space rock is the largest potentially hazardous asteroid detected in eight years.
An international team discovered three new near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) hiding in the inner Solar System.
This region is notoriously challenging for observations because asteroid hunters have to contend with the light of the Sun.